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  • RFK Jr.’s new food pyramid emphasizes protein, healthy fats. Here’s what to know about the dietary guidelines.

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    The Trump administration has unveiled a new food pyramid and dietary guidelines for Americans that call for “prioritizing high-quality protein, healthy fats, fruits, vegetables and whole grains” while avoiding highly processed foods and refined carbohydrates. 

    “As secretary of Health and Human Services, my message is clear: Eat real food,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at a White House briefing announcing the changes alongside Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and other health officials. Kennedy called it “the most significant reset of federal nutrition policy in history.”

    A White House official told CBS News the new guidelines are “science-driven.” In a fact sheet, the administration said the new guidelines would restore “science and common sense” and put “real food back at the center of health.” 

    Here’s what to know about the new dietary guidelines. 

    First recommended limits on highly processed foods

    For the first time, the recommendations are calling for Americans to avoid eating highly processed foods. 

    A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 55% of the U.S. population receives more than half of their daily calories from ultra-processed foods. The previous 2020-2025 dietary guidelines did not mention highly processed or ultra-processed foods.

    The new guidelines call for avoiding “highly processed packaged, prepared, ready-to-eat, or other foods that are salty or sweet,” as well as avoiding sweetened beverages including soda, fruit drinks and energy drinks. 

    Research has shown diets high in ultra-processed food are associated with an increased risk of 32 damaging health outcomes, according to a review published in The BMJ medical journal in 2024.

    Limits on sugars, artificial flavors and dyes

    The guidelines also say that “no amount of added sugars” are recommended for Americans, especially children. 

    At most, a meal should contain no more than 10 grams of added sugars, according to the new guidance. The former guidance said children under 2 should not consume added sugars and that Americans should aim to have less than 10% of their daily calories come from added sugars. 

    People should also limit foods and beverages that include artificial flavors, dyes, low-calorie non-nutritive sweeteners and artificial preservatives, the new guidelines said. 

    Naturally occurring sugars are not considered added sugars and can be part of a recommended diet under the new guidelines. 

    Fighting chronic disease and supporting gut health 

    Dietary guidelines are used as the baseline for federal food programs, including SNAP and school meal programs. The fact sheet for the new guidelines says public adherence to the new guidelines “will dramatically lower chronic disease — and healthcare costs — for Americans.” 

    The fact sheet said the U.S.’s high level of health-related spending and a life expectancy that is five years less than other developed countries is “predominantly due to chronic conditions tied to food.” It also said that lowering rates of obesity, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease would cut about $600 billion in annual healthcare costs. Previous studies have also shown a possible link between diet and Alzheimer’s. 

    “The most expensive thing we can do as a country is continue government incentives for food that sickens Americans and drives up healthcare costs,” the fact sheet said. 

    The new guidelines point out the importance of gut health and the microbiome inside a person’s intestines. The gut microbiome includes trillions of bacteria, viruses and fungi whose balance is important for good health. The new guidelines call for the consumption of vegetables, fruits, fermented foods and high-fiber foods to support a diverse gut microbiome. 

    “Ending the war on healthy fats”

    The fact sheet for the new guidance calls for “ending the war on healthy fats” and getting the bulk of dietary fats from whole food sources. That includes meat, poultry, eggs, seafood, nuts, full-fat dairy and avocados, the guidelines say. 

    People should aim for three servings of dairy a day, in line with the 2020-2025 guidelines. The new guidelines say people should prioritize full-fat options, while the previous guidelines recommended fat-free or low-fat products. 

    The new guidelines also recommend olive oil, butter or beef tallow for preparing meals. Kennedy has previously criticized seed oils and extolled tallow, at odds with long-standing recommendations. 

    “We are ending the war on saturated fats,” Kennedy said. 

    In total, saturated fat consumption should not exceed more than 10% of a person’s daily calories, according to the new guidelines. The 2020-2025 guidelines also had similar recommended limits on saturated fats, though they noted a “healthy dietary pattern” could include vegetable oils. 

    A focus on protein and “real” foods 

    The new guidelines recommend “high-quality, nutrient dense protein foods” including eggs, poultry, seafood, red meat, and plant-based proteins like beans, nuts and seeds in every meal. 

    Under the guidelines, Americans should aim to eat 1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight every day. Proteins should be served with no or limited added sugars, chemical additives, refined carbohydrates or starches, the guidelines say. 

    “What we’re stressing is that people should be eating protein,” Kennedy said in an interview with CBS News chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes.

    FDA Commissioner Marty Makary noted at the briefing that the new guidelines increase the recommended amount of protein for children.

    “Kids need protein,” Makary said. “The old protein guidelines were to prevent starvation and withering away. These new protein guidelines are designed for American kids to thrive.”

    Fruits, vegetables and whole grains

    The new guidelines also recommend people eat at least three servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit per day, in line with the previous 2020-2025 dietary guidance. 

    People should eat a variety of fruits and vegetables, preferably in their original form. Frozen, dried or canned products with no or very limited added sugars “can also be good options,” according to the fact sheet. People should limit consumption of 100% fruit or vegetable juices. 

    Americans should also prioritize fiber-rich whole grains and reduce the consumption of highly processed, refined carbs, the guidelines say. People should aim for between two and four servings of whole grains per day.  

    A new food pyramid

    Officials released a new version of the food pyramid, with protein, dairy, healthy fats making up one of the top corners, fruits and vegetables in the other, and whole grains at the bottom.

    A new version of the food pyramid was released by the USDA and Department of Health and Human Services on Jan. 7, 2026.

    USDA/Department of Health and Human Services


    Consume less alcohol

    The guidelines recommend that Americans should “consume less alcohol for better overall health.”

    People in certain categories are urged to completely avoid alcohol, including pregnant women, people who are recovering from alcohol use disorder or are unable to control the amount they drink, and people taking medications or with medical conditions that can interact with alcohol. 

    Previous guidelines said that Americans should not drink or drink in moderation. The recommended limits were 2 drinks or less per day for men and 1 drink or less per day for women on days when alcohol is consumed. 

    Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the new guidelines are meant to encourage moderation but acknowledge the social benefits that some may experience. 

    “There is alcohol on these guidelines, but the implication is don’t have it for breakfast,” Oz said.  

    Reactions to new dietary guidance 

    The American Medical Association said in a statement that it “applauds” the Trump administration’s new dietary guidelines.

    “The guidelines affirm that food is medicine and offer clear direction patients and physicians can use to improve health,” Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, the president of the AMA, said in the statement. Kennedy thanked Mukkamala in his briefing. 

    The AMA said it will launch a collection of educational resources and hold a series of roundtable discussions with doctors and experts to “strengthen nutrition education and clinical competency.” It also pledged to work with Congress to incentivize the consumption of nutrient-dense foods, expand food labeling efforts, define ultra-processed foods and increase investment in nutrition research. 

    Edited by

    Paula Cohen

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  • Constipated? Here’s What Actually Works, According to Scientists

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    Just about everyone gets, ahem, backed up—aka, constipation—occasionally. For many people, however, constipation can turn into a constant nightmare. Thankfully, a handy evidence-based guide out this week highlights the foods and dietary supplements most likely to help you smooth out your bathroom trips.

    Researchers in the UK compiled the guide, following an extensive review of the medical literature. Kiwis, rye bread, and fiber supplements were some of the items that had clear evidence supporting their use for chronic constipation, the researchers found. The conclusions, endorsed by the British Dietetic Association, represent the first rigorous dietary guidelines for managing this frustrating health condition, the authors say.

    “Chronic constipation can have a huge impact on someone’s day-to-day life,” said lead author Eirini Dimidi, a nutrition researcher at King’s College London, in a statement from the university. “For the first time, we’ve provided direction on what dietary approaches could genuinely help, and which diet advice lacks evidence.”

    A chronic issue

    Estimates vary, but around 16% of the world’s population is thought to currently have constipation, while chronic constipation may affect between 9% and 20% of adults in the U.S. Constipation is also known to become more common as we age, affecting between a quarter and a third of people over 65.

    Most cases of chronic constipation aren’t linked to a single known cause, such as a disease, but there are factors that raise the risk of it happening, including lifestyle habits like our diet.

    Medical guidelines in the past have emphasized generalized tips for handling constipation, such as eating a diet rich in fiber. But the study researchers say their work is intended to pinpoint the specific foods and supplements that have the most scientific backing for treating constipation.

    The researchers conducted four separate systematic reviews, which collectively analyzed data from 75 randomized and controlled clinical trials. The findings from this review were then used to create guidelines through an approach called the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation, or GRADE, system.

    One important aspect of the GRADE system is that it classifies the level of evidence supporting a particular recommendation as well as the strength of a recommendation, meaning how helpful it would be to people. A strong recommendation in this case, for instance, would mean that most everyone with chronic constipation would likely benefit from following it. The proposed recommendations were also evaluated and decided on by a panel of relevant experts in the field (this is known as a Delphi consensus).

    The guidelines were jointly published in two journals, the Journal of Human Nutrition & Dietetics as well as Neurogastroenterology & Motility.

    What works best for constipation?

    All in all, the researchers came up with 59 recommendations.

    The supplements most strongly recommended for constipation in the guidelines are psyllium fiber supplements, magnesium oxide supplements, and probiotics (though it’s still unclear which specific strains might be best).

    As for specific foods, the list goes: kiwifruits, rye bread, and high-mineral water.

    Interestingly, the authors failed to find sturdy enough evidence to support any whole diet approach, including high-fiber diets. While it’s still possible that eating lots of fiber could prevent or manage chronic constipation, the researchers say better-quality studies are needed to know for sure. It’s also worth noting that high-fiber diets are thought to have many health benefits, so there’s no reason to feel worried if you already include plenty of fiber in your meals.

    The researchers argue more extensive research should still be done to suss out the optimal treatments or interventions for constipation, since many of the studies they reviewed were low quality. But as is, their recommendations can already help people dealing with constipation, they say.

    “Being able to improve this condition through dietary changes would allow people to self-manage their symptoms more and, hopefully, improve their quality of life,” said Dimidi.

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    Ed Cara

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  • The Carnivore Diet Is Dividing TikTok – POPSUGAR Australia

    The Carnivore Diet Is Dividing TikTok – POPSUGAR Australia

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    The carnivore diet, popularized by Shawn Baker, MD, a doctor, athlete, and YouTuber, is precisely what it sounds like: eating only animal products, primarily meat. The extreme cousin of keto and paleo, it cuts out all plant-based foods, including fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. It’s attracted followers who claim it offers a range of benefits, from rapid weight loss to diabetes reversal.

    But let’s be clear – while it’s gained popularity in recent years, the carnivore diet isn’t a sustainable or balanced way to eat. The supposed benefits might sound appealing, but the long-term health risks and potential nutrient deficiencies are too significant to ignore. Its quick rise in popularity can be attributed to its simplicity and the promise of quick results, but it’s not the silver bullet solution for health and wellness that so many fitfluencers claim.

    To get the lowdown on the health effects of the carnivore diet, we spoke with two registered dietitians. Read on to learn about what the carnivore diet is and why dietitians definitely don’t recommend it.

    Experts Featured in This Article

    Michelle Routhenstein, MS, RD, CDCES, CDN, is a preventive cardiology dietitian at EntirelyNourished.com.

    Katie Breazeale, MS, RD, LD, is a gut health dietitian.

    What Is the Carnivore Diet, Exactly?

    As its name implies, the carnivore diet is an eating plan that eliminates all plant foods. That means eating only meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and other animal-derived foods, like butter and heavy cream. The diet excludes all vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, and plant-based oils, making it one of the most restrictive diets out there.

    What’s the rationale behind the carnivore diet? It’s rooted in the (questionable) belief that humans are designed to thrive on a diet made exclusively of animal products. Followers of the diet claim that plants contain anti-nutrients – compounds that can interfere with the absorption of essential vitamins and minerals. They also claim that many people are sensitive to these compounds, leading to inflammation, digestive issues, and other health problems.

    Given it contains only animal products, the carnivore diet is high in protein and fat, with virtually no carbohydrates. If a person following the carnivore diet chooses to eat fatty cuts of meat, which increases the total proportion of fat eaten, this can put the body in a state of ketosis, similar to the keto diet. Ketosis is where fat is used as the primary energy source instead of carbohydrates. However, unlike the keto diet, which allows for some vegetables and plant-based fats, the carnivore diet leaves no room for dietary variety beyond animal products.

    Are There Carnivore Diet Benefits?

    Most experts would say no – or if there are, they’re vastly outweighed by the risks. Advocates of the carnivore diet claim that eliminating plant-based foods and only eating animal products can lead to numerous health benefits, such as:

    • Weight loss
    • Reduced inflammation
    • Improved mental clarity
    • Reversal of type 2 diabetes
    • Normalized blood pressure
    • Reduction in digestive symptoms
    • Improved mental health
    • Improvement in autoimmune disorders

    However, it’s worth noting that some of these claims fly directly in the face of what the current science tells us about the health effects of eating meat. For example, high meat consumption is associated with an increased risk of developing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Eating fatty meats may also increase the risk of heart disease and certain types of cancer. Finally, both processed and unprocessed red meat consumption is associated with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes. It seems that meat may not be the health solution that people were hoping for.

    What Are the Risks of the Carnivore Diet?

    One of the most obvious risks of the carnivore diet is a lack of nutritional balance, says Michelle Routhenstein, MS, RD, CDCES, CDN. “The diet lacks many essential nutrients found in plant foods, including fiber, vitamin C, magnesium, potassium, and various antioxidants and phytonutrients.”

    But the risks of the carnivore diet don’t stop at what it doesn’t have. There’s just as much to worry about in terms of what it does have.

    Heart Health

    “The carnivore diet poses several heart health risks, primarily through its effects on TMAO levels, LDL cholesterol, and overall nutrient balance,” says Routhenstein.

    She explains that TMAO (trimethylamine N-oxide) is a compound gut bacteria produce when they digest animal protein. TMAO levels rise significantly when following a carnivore diet thanks to the large amount of animal protein. “Elevated TMAO is linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, as it promotes cholesterol buildup in arteries and increases inflammation,” she adds.

    And TMAO isn’t the only thing to worry about. “The carnivore diet is high in saturated fats,” says Routhenstein, “which can raise LDL and apoB cholesterol levels in the blood.” What’s the problem with this? “Elevated LDL and apoB are major risk factors for atherosclerosis, a condition characterized by the buildup of fatty deposits in arteries,” she explains. This increases your risk of heart attacks and strokes.

    Gut Health

    Given the removal of all fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds, the carnivore diet affects the gut in multiple ways, says Katie Breazeale, MS, RD, LD. “Individuals on the carnivore diet experience more constipation due to the lack of fiber,” she explains. This can lead to a host of other problems, like nausea, vomiting, bloating, hemorrhoids, and fissures (small tears or cuts in the skin around the anus). In other words? The carnivore diet throws your digestion entirely out of whack.

    In addition, Breazeale notes that there’s a higher risk of gallstones due to the higher fat content of the carnivore diet. “Your gallbladder releases bile to help with the digestion of fats,” she explains, “but when there is a higher volume of fat being eaten, it changes the bile and can cause a ‘back up’, leading to gallstones.”

    There’s also the issue of an extreme lack of dietary variety on the carnivore diet, and as Breazele explains, when it comes to gut health, diversity is a must. “Fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds contain polyphenols and fiber that our gut loves to use to support our good bacteria,” says Breazeale. By not supporting microbial diversity in the gut, you increase your risk of developing gut dysbiosis, where the microbes in your gut become unbalanced. This can lead to a wide range of problems, such as heart disease, cancers, and respiratory disease.

    Finally, a major long-term health risk of the carnivore diet is colon cancer due to the lack of fiber and phytochemicals from the diet, says Breazeale. “Research has shown that a diet high in fiber reduces the risk of colon cancer, while higher intakes of red and processed meats increase the risk of colon cancer,” she explains.

    Disordered Eating

    We need to be aware of risks to mental health as well. Following a restrictive diet such as the carnivore diet requires a lot of mental effort, which can seriously impact mental health.

    A recent study looking at the effects of a low-carb diet and intermittent fasting on food cravings and disordered eating found that following a low-carb diet (both with and without intermittent fasting) led to negative feelings like guilt, intense cravings for food, and binge eating. People following low-carb diets also tended to use food as a way to cope with negative emotions.

    While there’s less research about the carnivore diet specifically, it’s even more restrictive than standard low-carb diets. It seems likely that these negative side effects would be just as common with the carnivore diet as other low-carb diets. And even if it did have health benefits (which, let’s be clear: it doesn’t), is it really worth giving up your mental sanity just to lose a few pounds?

    The Bottom Line

    If you’re thinking about trying the carnivore diet, Routhenstein recommends consulting with a healthcare provider first – particularly if you have existing health conditions or concerns about heart health. “Those with a family history of heart disease or elevated cholesterol should strongly avoid this diet, as it may accelerate cardiovascular issues and complications,” she cautions.

    If you’re really set on trying a carnivore diet, Routhenstein recommends monitoring your cholesterol levels, blood pressure, blood sugar, and other health indicators to assess the diet’s impact on your health. However, both Routhenstein and Breazeale recommend steering clear of the carnivore diet for overall health.

    For a more balanced and heart-healthy approach, Routhenstein suggests considering the Mediterranean diet, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, or balanced plant-based diets that include moderate amounts of animal protein. These diets offer a more heart-healthy way to incorporate animal products while maintaining overall health.

    Overall, while the carnivore diet might sound like an easy fix for health issues, it’s important to remember that quick results don’t always mean lasting health. Cutting out entire food groups comes with significant risk, especially when those food groups are packed with essential nutrients. Remember, a healthy diet is about far more than what you cut out – it’s what you put in that really matters.

    Sarah Glinski is a registered dietitian and health and nutrition writer with over six years of experience in the health and wellness industry. Her specialties include diabetes, kidney disease, cancer, gut health, and intuitive eating. She believes food is more than just nutrients and acknowledges the power food can have to heal and build community. As a nutrition professional who writes health content, Sarah uses the latest scientific research to guide her writing and recommendations. Her goal as a writer is to ensure that complex health information is made easy to understand and actionable so that more people can benefit from it.

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  • Why Diets Don’t Work and How to Shift Your Focus to Longer-Term Solutions

    Why Diets Don’t Work and How to Shift Your Focus to Longer-Term Solutions

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    Have you thought about how many diets, detoxes, and plans you’ve tried in your lifetime?

    When we have new students join the Mindful Nutrition Method, on average, they’ve tried at least three diets, plans, or trends prior to coming to see us for sustainable solutions. The takeaway point here is that they must not work, right? Otherwise, they wouldn’t be coming to us afterward. 

    And guess what, our students aren’t alone! 

    This is becoming increasingly more common with so many new trends, quick-fix plans, and diets coming out weekly. This overflow in the health and wellness space is resulting in more and more people feeling stressed out about food, overwhelmed, and simply fed up with dieting. Can you relate?

    Our mission here at Nutrition Stripped is to help you find confidence in nourishing yourself with ease, so you can ditch the diets and make peace with food. In order to do that, we need to hop off of the diet train and learn why these diets are doing much more harm than good. 

    Here I’m diving into the 5 reasons why diets don’t work for most of us, and discussing what you can do instead to mindfully care for your body and yourself.

    Why Diets Don’t Work

    First and foremost, when we say diets, we mean choosing to abide by food guidelines and restrictions as a result of personal choice (think cutting carbs, counting macros, or abiding by a strict eating schedule). What we’re not referring to here are medically-necessary diets that are guided by a health professional (such as a low FODMAP diet for IBS or a gluten-free diet for Celiac Disease). 

    Most diets today involve the restriction of caloric intake in some way, shape, or form. That may involve restricting a particular food group, or simply decreasing intake altogether. In my experience as a Registered Dietitian and Mindful Nutrition Method Coach working with hundreds of our Mindful Nutrition Method students, I’ve seen the impact this can have time and time again. 

    When your body experiences this decrease in energy, a few things may happen both physically and mentally:

    • Increased cravings for starchy carbohydrates, particularly those higher in sugar 
    • Decreased confidence and ease around food
    • A tendency to hyperfocus on food intake and food choices
    • Increased food guilt, stress, and anxiety 
    • A loss of control around certain foods 
    • A loss of control in particular eating scenarios 
    • An increase in digestive complications 

    These complications lead to a variety of additional challenges that can prevent you from maintaining this way of eating for the long term. Let’s dive into what those are.

    1. Dieting Can Take The Joy And Pleasure Out Of The Food Experience

    If you know me, you’ve likely heard me say this before, and it’s worth repeating: food is more than nourishment. It’s tradition, culture, pleasure, and joy and it’s okay to celebrate the many roles food plays in our lives!

    Every day, I cook meals that not only nourish my body but also make me so happy and filled with joy to experience.

    I love being in the kitchen alone or cooking with my husband Jesse. I really enjoy trying new recipes with new ingredients, then sitting down to savor a delicious meal (not always “Instagram worthy” either). If we’re cooking and eating together, we love talking about our day and our plans for the future. It’s such a great time to connect.

    Food is such a powerful way to bring nourishment and joy into our lives, but unfortunately, so many diets are really strict, and rigid, and completely ignore this. They remove joy from the eating experience and can make you feel as if cooking is a chore or that you’re meals are unsatisfying.

    They can cause you to view food only as a means to an end, and constantly leave you “looking forward to” the next time you “can” eat that food item you really want to have, but “can’t”, causing a lot of stress as a result of focusing on what you should or shouldn’t eat.

    Instead, try focusing on creating a positive, joyful experience around your meals.

    This could involve finding recipes that excite you or even simply eating at the table without any devices or distractions. It could be turning on music while you cook a meal for yourself or inviting a friend over for a mini-pot luck night in.

    Reframing food in this way can help you create a whole new appreciation for fueling your body with nourishment, love, and joy.

    2. Short-Term Thinking — Start And Stop Mentality

    The second reason why diets fail most people so often is short-term thinking. The 21-day this, 30-day that. What are you supposed to do after that time period?

    They’re designed to try to get you a big result as quickly as possible. They often fail to then teach you how to integrate that into your life in a balanced way.

    Switch from this short-term, one-size-fits-all thinking to long-term, sustainable thinking. Make choices for yourself that you can realistically sustain for years. Ask yourself, can I do this every day? If not, don’t add it to your life.

    Think about this — following a diet can be a lot of work. You need to learn the rules, buy the right ingredients, follow the meal plan, and potentially skip on or work around your normal social outings. And then you end up following that for, let’s say, 30 days.

    Imagine what would happen if instead, you refocused all of that time and energy on learning a new skill or developing a habit that would last you much longer than that. Maybe instead of following a trend or popular diet, you simply focus your energy on cooking more at home.

    It’s this kind of long-term thinking that can give you the skills to navigate your health 365 days a year.

    3. They Often Require You to Have Foods that Are “Off-Limits”

    Oh boy, we’ve all been there, myself included. We’ve been so “good” on our diet, but then we go out to eat or go to a social gathering and are offered foods we “can’t have”. This increasingly makes us hyperaware, hypersensitive, and focused on that food choice. Right?

    And that can cause two unhealthy extremes: either isolating yourself from others to avoid that temptation or completely overindulging, sometimes even to the point of feeling sick. 

    So here’s my tip, don’t follow guidelines that tell you to eliminate specific foods or food groups for the sake of losing weight or because someone on social media told you to because they do.

    Eliminating foods for the sake of dieting without medical necessity does so much more harm than good. It contributes to that yo-yo diet cycle of getting “on” and “off-track” and dieting over and over again. 

    4. Diets Are One-Size-Fits-All — They Don’t Take Your Unique Body And Life Into Consideration

    Following a popular diet’s guidelines doesn’t always align with your unique wants and needs.

    While it may seem easy to pick a diet and follow it because you don’t have to think about anything, you end up following rules you think you “should” be doing, without actually evaluating what you need in your life and why.

    This can create a big disconnect between your inherent wants and needs and what you’re actually doing. As a result, you can feel guilty, stressed, and overwhelmed around food as opposed to feeling peaceful and at ease.  

    Instead, focus on what you really want. What works really well for you and your life? Jot down exactly what healthy looks like and feels like for you, and why you want those things in your life. Create your wellness vision. 

    When you have that clarity, you’ll begin making decisions that align with your unique needs, rather than what someone else says.

    5. They Ask You to Do Too Much All At Once, Making it Hard to Maintain

    Lastly, diets are often structured in such a short time frame that they ask you to make dozens of changes overnight. When there’s so much change all at once, it’s nearly impossible to keep up with it all.

    Instead, shift to slowly building up your changes and habits over time. Intentionally stack one on top of another so they’re all working together to build a solid foundation for your lifestyle change.

    This means taking that vision of wellness you have for yourself and breaking it down into tiny action steps. It doesn’t mean waking up tomorrow and trying to do everything all at once. It’s taking it one item at a time and really working through it until it’s easy and fully integrated into your life.

    Then move on to the next habit.

    We covered a lot in this video, but if there’s one thing I want you to take away, it’s that we all have unique lifestyles and bodies to honor, but most diets, detoxes, or plans don’t take that into consideration.

    Ditch the Scale and Measure Your Health in Other Ways

    There are many ways to measure and reach your health goals without dieting — including ways to measure outcomes and success outside of the scale. I can’t tell you how important this is! If you let the number on the scale dictate whether or not you’re successful, whether or not you’re happy, you’ll constantly be in the diet cycle. 

    Instead, focus on how you feel, the practices you’re engaging in, the habits you’ve implemented and the goals you’ve accomplished. 

    Some examples might include:

    • Blood work or labs if you’re managing a certain health condition
    • Increased energy levels
    • Better digestion
    • Feeling more confident in general and around food
    • Expressing creativity and joy in your life
    • Honoring what your physical body allows you to do (i.e. give loved ones a hug, exercise, think, work, breathe, etc.)
    • Eating free from distraction
    • Feeling less stress around food and food choices

    Learn How To Stop Dieting And Nourish Yourself In A Way That Feels Uniquely Right For You

    By shifting your focus from these short-term fixes to long-term solutions that stem from what you need and want in your life, you can create a healthy lifestyle that’s maintainable 365 days a year, not just for 30 days. 

    If shifting your mindset around this seems impossible, challenging, or really hard for you to do right now, you’re not alone.

    Sign up to watch my free masterclass today, where you’ll learn about How To Break Free From The Diet And Food Obsession Starting Now. 

    You don’t need to stress and obsess about food. There is a better way, and yes it’s possible to cultivate a positive relationship with food! Join this free balanced eating masterclass to learn how.

    Watch The Free Masterclass

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  • How to do Dry Jan without falling prey to diet culture

    How to do Dry Jan without falling prey to diet culture

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    And yet, the decision to partake in Dry January can be overshadowed by diet-centric motives and language. Alcohol Change UK describes the initiative as “a break and a total reset for the body and mind.” This word “reset” pops up in nearly every article I read about Dry January (see here, here, and here), despite the fact that it’s medically impossible for your body to reset to a natural state of wellness, which I assume is the aspiration here.

    Usually, the word “reset” – along with its pal’s detox, cleanse, etc. – is a red flag that you have stumbled across a fad diet and that you should probably run. But when it comes to Dry January (and other sobriety-orientated challenges), this word is allowed to creep back into our consciousness – as Christy Harrison said in conversation with GLAMOUR earlier this year, diet culture is a “slippery thing.” If we’re using diet-coded language to describe our attempts at sobriety, who’s to say we aren’t legitimising the culture these words represent?

    Moreover, the benefits of participating in Dry January or any short-term sobriety challenges often veer into weight loss land, which isn’t inherently problematic. Still, it’s worth keeping an eye on.

    “Did you know a standard glass of wine can contain as many calories as a piece of chocolate, and a pint of lager has about the same number of calories as a packet of crisps?” reads the opening sentence on an NHS “alcohol advice” webpage. “So, if you’re trying to lose weight you need to think about what you are drinking as well as what you are eating.”

    While it’s useful for some people to understand the caloric content of different alcoholic drinks, I wonder whether it could lead to an unhelpful conflation between food, which we need to consume to survive, and substances like alcohol, which we really don’t need to survive. This blurred understanding of food and alcohol can lead to disordered eating and problematic drinking, as Harrison sometimes sees in her clients:

    “People will end up “drinking their calories” where they’ll decide to drink wine or drink whatever beverage instead of eating […] They’ll skip meals to try to save up their calories for alcohol.”

    As Harrison points out, this is rarely sustainable: “People’s inhibitions are lowered as they go through a night of drinking, and hunger builds up because they’re not actually getting their needs met through alcohol […] And so at the end of the night, they’ll end up having a food binge because of all those factors and then I’ve seen people say, “Well, I have to stop drinking because it’s making me eat. It’s making me break my diet.”

    Last year, I also spoke to Holly Whitaker – author of the bestselling How To Quit Like A Woman – about the “wellness lens” through which sobriety is often viewed. She points out that Dry January itself gives “people who might not otherwise examine how alcohol shows up in their lives the space to do so. It allows them to do this within a community.” Given that we still live in a society hell-bent on forcing alcohol down our throats – literally – Whitaker also notes that Dry January “creates an excuse” for people to quit drinking without having to go to uncomfortable lengths to justify their decision.

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  • Mediterranean Diet Cuts Dementia Risk, Regardless of Genetic Risk

    Mediterranean Diet Cuts Dementia Risk, Regardless of Genetic Risk

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    March 14, 2023 – Sticking closely to the Mediterranean diet – rich in healthy fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, and seafood – may help protect the aging brain.

    In a large study of older adults, close following of a Mediterranean diet was tied to a 23% lower risk of getting dementia over an average of 9 years. 

    This was true even in people with genes that make them more likely to have dementia, study investigator Oliver Shannon, PhD, with Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, U.K., tells WebMD. 

    The study was published online March 14 in the journal BMC Medicine. 

    Diet may be an important risk factor for dementia. Focusing on diet, and eating healthier, could be targeted to prevent or cut the risk of the memory-robbing disease. Yet, prior studies exploring the impact of the Mediterranean diet have typically been limited in size, and few have explored the impact of one’s genetic makeup. 

    In the new study, researchers looked at genetic and dietary data for more than 60,000 adults in the United Kingdom who were 60 and older. Over the course of about 9 years, 882 got dementia.

    People who ate mostly the Mediterranean diet had a 23% lower risk of dementia, compared to peers who were least careful about following the diet plan. Sticking closely to the largely plant-based diet was equal to a 0.55% reduction in risk of getting dementia. 

    This was the case regardless of a person’s individual genetic risk profile. 

    “This is one of the largest studies in this area to date and, importantly, we found that even for those with higher genetic risk, having a more Mediterranean-like diet reduced the likelihood of developing dementia,” Shannon says. 

    In a statement, Susan Mitchell, PhD, with Alzheimer’s Research UK, who was not involved in the study, said there is a “wealth of evidence that eating a healthy, balanced diet can help reduce the risk of cognitive decline. But evidence for specific diets is much less clear cut.”

    “This new, large study adds to this overall picture, but it only drew on data from people with white, British or Irish ancestry,” she said.

    “More research is needed to build on its intriguing findings, and uncover whether these reported benefits also translate to minority communities, where historically dementia has often been misunderstood and highly stigmatized, and where awareness of how people can reduce their risk is low,” Mitchell said. 

    The new study adds to research published earlier this month, which found that people who most closely followed the Mediterranean diet or the brain-focused MIND diet had fewer signs of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease in their brain after they died.

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  • Q&A: Maybe Kids Don’t Need to Lose Weight

    Q&A: Maybe Kids Don’t Need to Lose Weight

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    Feb. 22, 2023 — After the American Academy of Pediatrics’ new guidelines for treating obese kids came out, I wrote “What Parents Should Know” for WebMD. It included insights from several experts and two moms of overweight children. The guidelines have proven controversial due to the recommendations of medication and bariatric surgery for older kids — but also because a growing number of people question whether telling a child to lose weight is ever a good idea. 

    One of the most prominent voices reaching parents about kids and weight belongs to Virginia Sole-Smith. A journalist and creator of a newsletter and podcast focused on fatphobia, diet culture, and parenting called Burnt Toast, she’s also the author of a forthcoming book on the subject. Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture will be published in April. I spoke with her about the AAP guidelines and how to parent a fat — or thin — child in our seemingly inescapable diet culture.

    This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

    Q: This is probably due to my own history as a fat kid, but when I read the new AAP guidelines, they struck me as thoughtful and empathetic, though the idea of medicating or operating on teens made me uneasy. But you point out that encouraging weight loss in the first place is likely to cause more problems than it solves.

    A: We don’t have a ton of evidence that high body weight itself is the problem. There are reasons to be concerned about weight-linked health conditions, but pathologizing body size brings with it a whole other set of complications. When you do that, you start telling kids their bodies are problems to solve, you start focusing on food in ways that can raise their risk for disordered eating and eating disorders. There’s a whole ripple effect to this that the guidelines aren’t reckoning with. 

    Underpinning this whole conversation is anti-fat bias. We live in a culture that believes fat bodies are less valuable, less lovable, and less attractive than thin bodies. Our whole world is built to celebrate and welcome thin bodies and push out larger ones. This is just another way we’re doing that.

    Q: People may wonder why the AAP would put out guidelines that might be harmful for kids since this is an organization that clearly cares about children’s health. 

    A: It’s really tricky. Officially, in their paper, they say, “We have no financial disclosures to reveal, everything’s on the up and up.” But the AAP itself receives donations from pharmaceutical companies, including Novo Nordisk, which is the manufacturer of two of the biggest weight loss drugs. A lot of the authors on this paper have received research funds, speaking fees, consulting fees, etc., or they’re employed by centers that do bariatric surgery. That doesn’t need to get disclosed because it’s just their job. They’re considered an expert because of it, but they’re financially entangled with weight loss being a thing we push for. (Editor’s note: WebMD reached out to the AAP for comment. This is their reply: The AAP has a strict conflict-of-interest disclosure policy and process for all authors of policy statements, clinical reports and clinical practice guidelines. The authors include medical experts with a wide range of perspectives, medical specialties and professional experiences, including some who have conducted research on weight and obesity and others who have devoted their careers to this aspect of medicine. Their knowledge and expertise was important in the development of these evidence-based guidelines. The guidelines also underwent an extensive peer-review process among many other groups of pediatricians and pediatric specialists, and ultimately were approved by the AAP Board of Directors.)

    Q: Is trying to lose weight always bad? The moms I interviewed for that article, both of whom use the new injectable weight loss drugs, said they found it reassuring to have a medical solution to their weight problems. It removed a lot of the shame to know it was a physiological thing. And doctors point out that if your child had diabetes you wouldn’t hesitate to give them drugs. So why is this different?

    A: Why is because body size in and of itself isn’t a medical condition. Doctors have pathologized it and made obesity a diagnosis, but there’s a lot of evidence to suggest it shouldn’t be. So it’s not the same as giving your kid an inhaler for asthma or insulin for diabetes. That’s what I want — I want doctors to medicate the actual medical conditions. 

    The moms you spoke to are being told over and over that their kid’s body is a problem, and they are to blame. Parents in general, but moms especially, get so much judgment if they have a fat kid. And if you’re a fat parent with a fat kid, doubly so. They’re being told if you don’t get this problem under control, your child will have lifelong health consequences. Your child will be bullied. Your child will be unpopular, unlovable, less employable, and so on. All of that is driven by bias. That’s not medical. 

    I empathize with parents — they’re terrified for their kids so making kids smaller feels like the answer. But when we choose that, we reinforce anti-fat bias and we make it more powerful. And we say to these kids, yup, the bullies are right, your body is the problem, you are the problem. We need to change you. We don’t need to change this whole system.

    Q: The AAP guidelines say that the treatments they’re recommending statistically don’t lead to eating disorders. You argue that in reality, they do. 

    A: Eating disorders are really underdiagnosed in fat people because we assume they only happen to thin white girls. But we know they happen to people of every age, every gender, every race. There’s a lot of evidence to show that fat folks, by the time they do get treated, are much sicker because doctors have been reinforcing that disordered behavior along the way. They’re so happy to see weight loss, they don’t question how the loss was achieved. But you absolutely can have an eating disorder, you can be experiencing the physical complications of eating disorders, the heart issues, the fainting, all of that, in a larger body. You don’t have to be emaciated to deserve treatment.

    As for the AAP saying these programs don’t cause eating disorders, the research they used to determine that didn’t follow kids long enough. Often studies only follow people for 1 to 2 years. If you put a 10-year-old on a diet and follow them until they’re 11 or 12, that eating disorder may not onset until age 14 or 15. 

    And then when they did check for eating disorder symptoms, they looked for things like binge eating, overeating, purging. They looked for the symptoms they expect fat people to show, but they did not look for restriction, skipping meals, cutting out food groups, because No. 1, they don’t think fat people do that, and No. 2, that is exactly what they’re teaching the kids to do: to restrict. 

    Q: There are diseases with clear correlations to excess weight. I was just diagnosed with arthritis in my hip, and I suspect it has to do with the fact that I was 100 pounds overweight for years. How should we be talking about that?

    A: We often rush to say weight is legitimately an issue without investigating. Might a thin person with the same habits have the same risk for the condition? Just focusing on making body size smaller won’t necessarily affect whatever lifestyle factors are at play. 

    There’s also the fact that people in larger bodies receive significantly worse medical care, so a thin person reporting symptoms might get treatment faster than a fat person. I remember interviewing a weight-inclusive doctor, and I asked about knee issues. I’m fat and I have knee problems. And she said, “I have knee problems, too. I get physical therapy, I’ve gotten surgery, I’ve been prescribed all these different treatments.” But fat people get told to lose weight to take pressure off your knees. They don’t get referrals to physical therapy and things that might help these issues. The bias becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

    Of course, there are conditions where weight may play a causal role. I’m not disputing that. I don’t think anyone is disputing that. What we’re disputing is treating fat people like it’s their fault — if only they’d had more willpower, they wouldn’t be in this situation. Denying them care in a punitive way. That’s the harder thing for the medical community to wrap their heads around. Even if you’re fat and unhealthy, your body is still worthy of dignity and respect and health care. 

    The last piece is that sustainable weight loss doesn’t work most of the time. Dieting has a huge failure rate. Medications and surgery may be starting to change that, but they come with significant side effects. The surgery is going to be lifelong, and the medication you have to stay on for life to sustain the weight loss. You’re looking at a lifetime of consequences.

    Q: Let’s talk about the more positive side of things. In your book, you write about fat positivity and how to instill it, telling your child, “Your body is never the problem.” What does a kid get out of hearing that?

    A: It’s not the doctor’s fault, but doctors always see bodies as problems to solve — why is this symptom or behavior happening? For a kid sitting under the microscope, what a gross feeling that is, knowing someone has to invest time and money into fixing them. And with weight, it reinforces this whole larger bias. 

    But you can’t necessarily control what the doctor says in an appointment. You can ask not to discuss BMI or weight, you can try to set boundaries, but you can’t guarantee how the conversation will go. The only thing you can control is what your child hears you say. If you say to the doctor, “I don’t view their body as a problem,” at least your child comes away with the knowledge that my body is safe in my home, with my family. My parents don’t see me this way. It feels like an important foundation that so many fat kids don’t get. 

    Q: What about parents of thin kids? What should they be doing?

    A: I really want parents of thin kids to be talking about this, for two reasons. One, thin kids aren’t immune to the harms of anti-fat bias. Not every thin kid will grow up to be a thin adult. I say this as a former thin kid who’s a fat adult. It’s really important that thinness not be so interwoven with their identity, that if they can’t maintain that thinness, they feel like they’re failing.

    Thing two is, parents of thin kids need to talk about anti-fat bias the same way parents of white kids need to talk about racism. If we don’t have these hard conversations, if we don’t teach our kids to name and unlearn this bias, the rest of the culture is going to teach them instead. 

    It’s not that I want parents to try to keep their kids in a fat-positive bubble with no exposure to diet culture. I want parents to be naming these things, to be learning alongside their kids, to be having conversations so that we can help kids develop critical thinking skills. Then they can start to point out diet culture to us, they can say, “Hey, this is a really messed up way to talk about bodies in this TV show or this book I’m reading or this person I’m following on TikTok.” That is going to do more to buffer kids against these influences because we’re giving them the option to disagree with it. We’re giving them the option to think about going a different way. 

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  • Cutting Calories Could Slow the Pace of Aging: Study

    Cutting Calories Could Slow the Pace of Aging: Study

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    Feb. 14, 2023 – A new study says we can slow the pace at which we age by 2% to 3% if we lower the number of calories we eat by 25%. That may seem like a little benefit for a large cut in calories. But experts say it’s actually a pretty big deal. 

    “In other studies, that same difference in pace of aging had meaningful consequences for people’s risk of dying,” says senior study author Daniel W. Belsky, PhD, a researcher at the Butler Columbia Aging Center at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York City.

    Cutting calories by 25% slowed down the pace of aging in young and middle-aged adults by a few percentage points, compared to people who continued eating normally, the new research reveals. This first-of-its-kind study in humans adds to evidence from animal studies that the rate of aging can be changed. 

    Compared to 75 people who ate normally, the 145 people randomly assigned to cut back their calories slowed their pace of aging by 2% to 3% over 2 years in the  randomized controlled trial. 

    For example, a similar slowdown in the pace of aging was associated with a 10% to 15% lower risk of dying over 10 to 15 years in previous work, Belsky says. “So 2 to 3% slower aging doesn’t sound like maybe that big of a deal – but 10 to 15 percent reduction in risk of dying seems like a big deal.” 

    Results of the study were published last week in the journal Nature Aging. 

    Even though the pace of aging slowed, the researchers did not find significant changes on two biological aging measures in the study, suggesting more work is needed. 

    The findings “are intriguing in that caloric restriction seemed to show a slower pace of aging in healthy adults,” says Vandana Sheth, a registered dietitian nutritionist and owner of a nutrition consulting firm in Los Angeles. “This can have a significant impact on population health. However, larger studies need to be done to follow up on these findings.”

    ‘Exciting Result’

    Asked if the findings imply aging could be slowed down in people, Belsky said, “That is the … exciting result from the trial. These results suggest it may be possible to slow the pace of biological aging with a behavioral intervention.”

    But not everyone is completely convinced. 

    “This is good suggestive evidence that caloric restriction can modify aspects of biological aging in humans, similar to what has been known in laboratory animals for many decades,” says Matt Kaeberlein, PhD, director of the Healthy Aging and Longevity Research Institute at the University of Washington in Seattle and senior author of “Antiaging diets: Separating fact from fiction,” a 2021 review article in Science. 

    Part of his concern is that cutting your calories by a quarter may not be a sustainable long-term strategy.  

    “It’s important to keep in mind that these measurements only report on a portion of biological aging and are probably not an accurate overall measurement of biological age or the rate of biological aging,” Kaeberlein says. The findings might suggest that “at the population level, a 25% reduction in caloric intake is unlikely to have large effects on biological aging unless implemented over many years, which is likely not reasonable for most people.”

    Insight Into Intermittent Fasting?

    Cutting back on calories is related to other dietary strategies, including intermittent fasting and time-restricted eating, Belsky says. “Intermittent fasting and time-restricted eating are nutritional interventions that have been developed, in part, because in experiments with animals, they have some of the same biological effects as calorie restriction.”

    There remain many unanswered questions. 

    “There are people who would argue that the reason calorie restriction does what it does is because when people are calorie-restricted, they also tend to restrict the times when they eat,” Belsky says. “They tend to have these longer fasts during the day.” 

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